Speaker Damper Substrate

ABSTRACT

A speaker damper substrate is to be made from several types of yarns for fabrication. The yarns include a general-grade fiber and a lower-melting fiber, whose melting point is lower than the general-grade fiber. In addition, the proportion ratio of the general-grade fiber and the lower-melting fiber is in the range of 95˜5%:5˜100%. The surrounding region of the overlapping area of the yarns is bonded using the lower-melting fibers due to their melting behavior for improving the mechanical properties of the substrate. In addition, the substrate can perform the resin-immersion process to further improve its rigidity and the compression molding effectiveness.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related to a substrate structure for a speaker damper having improved mechanical strength, and the composite materials for fabricating the substrate.

2. The Prior Arts

Typically most non-metal parts of a speaker are made of cloth fabric, such as the cone paper, damper, or other vibrational pieces. The main reason for using the cloth fabric is that the cloth is especially treated to have the proper elasticity and strength, thereby meeting the functional requirements for the speaker during use.

Since the traditional non-specially-treated cloth is generally soft and whose intensity, elasticity and toughness is not enough to make the aforementioned damper; as a result, the cloth fabric requires special treatment before it is used for fabricating the damper. The treatment process is as follows: rolls of the cloth fabric are immersed into the liquid resin; they are then taken out, dried, and rolled up as spare cloth fabric material. When the damper is fabricated, the conveyor conveys rolls of the cloth fabric to the molding device until they reach the position corresponding to where the molding device is arranged, and then is stopped. Then the upper mold and the lower mold of the molding device are clamped to press the cloth fabric therebetween; also the upper mold and the lower mold are provided with a heating device each to raise the temperature of the upper and lower molds while they are pressing the cloth fabric and using electrical power, thereby making the cloth fabric including the resin to have a temperature rise, as well as the resin becoming soften, and then by compression, the cloth fabric can be formed into the damper shape; meanwhile the cut-out operation to form the profile of the damper or the cutting procedure can be performed to cut out the profile of the damper to achieve the required contour for the damper.

The traditional exclusive cloth fabric used for making the speaker damper is so formed that the transverse yarns 1 (or warp yarns) and the longitudinal yarns 2 (or weft yarns) knitted in an interlaced or intermeshed manner (shown in FIG. 1). Hence, when a horizontal stretching force is exerted upon the damper, due to the parallel relationship between the transverse yarns 1 and the direction of the stretching force, the transverse yarns 1 are able to withstand the stretching force well enough, but the longitudinal yarns 2 are deformed because they are perpendicular to the horizontal stretching force; and vice versa when a longitudinal stretching force is exerted upon the damper, and upon the problem becoming more serious, the audio output quality will be severely affected. Therefore, even though the traditional substrate used for making the speaker damper possesses some degree of strength by undergoing the resin-immersion operation, it cannot improve the mechanical property as a whole.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a damper substrate which overcomes the problems of the traditional damper substrates for suffering from horizontal or longitudinal force, in which the yarns of the damper substrate are displaced to be deformed, thereby influencing audio output quality.

One feature of the present invention is the mixing of lower-melting fibers with general-grade fibers for making the yarns, and the yarns are knitted to fabricate the substrate especially for the damper. When the substrate is molded to form the damper using compression molding technology, the lower-melting fiber is melted to seep into the gaps among the general-grade fibers, thereby making the overlapping area between the weft and the warp yarns bond one another. Therefore, no matter which direction a force is being exerted, the substrate is not deformed or damaged, thereby maintaining the audio output quality at an acceptable level.

Another feature of the present invention is that a fabric blend is provided to make the damper substrate, and due to a proper proportions of the blending composition, an expected benefit can be achieved.

Based on the above goal, the solution of the present invention is to use a plurality of yarns knitted to fabricate the substrate. The yarns includes general-grade fiber and lower-melting fiber, whose melting point is lower than the general-grade fiber; and the proportion ratio of the general-grade fiber and the lower-melting fiber is in the range between 95˜0%:5˜100%. The surrounding region of the overlapping area of the yarns are bonded using the lower-melting fibers due to their melting behavior, which makes the substrate to have improved mechanical properties. Furthermore, the substrate can perform the resin-immersion process to further improve its strength and compression molding effectiveness.

The lower-melting fiber in the yarn used for making the substrate, according to the present invention, can be intertwined around the general-grade fibers, or blended with the general-grade fibers.

The lower-melting fiber in the yarn used for making the substrate, according to the present invention, can be polyester, acrylic, or polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) fiber, and the general-grade fiber can be aramid, polyester, cotton or silk fiber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a plurality of yarns for a traditional damper substrate being deformed and damaged;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the manner in which the damper according to the present invention behaves in response to a stretching force, where the overlapping area of the weft and warp yarns are not deformed and damaged when bonded together;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view showing the structure of a yarn made of a lower-melting fiber, according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a perspective schematic view showing the structure of a yarn made of a lower-melting fiber, according a second embodiment of to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the fabrication process of the speaker damper, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the manner in which the substrate according to the embodiment of the present invention has the overlapping area of the weft and warp yarns bonded using the lower-melting fibers due to the melting effect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of a substrate A used for making the speaker damper is so formed that a plurality of transverse yarns 1 and longitudinal yarns 2 are knitted in a interlaced or intermeshed manner (shown in FIG. 2). Both the transverse yarns 1 and the longitudinal yarns 2 comprising a lower-melting fiber and a general-grade fiber. Referring to FIG. 3A, a first embodiment of the transverse yarns 1 and longitudinal yarns 2 is such that a plurality of lower-melting fibers 4 are blended with a plurality of general-grade fibers 3, and then twisted into a spiral to make the yarns; the second embodiment is such that the lower-melting fibers 4 are encapsulated around the general-grade fibers 3 to make the yarns (shown in FIG. 3B). A preferred proportion ratio of the general-grade fiber 3 to the lower-melting fiber 4 is in the range of 95˜0%:5˜100%. The lower-melting fiber 4 in the yarn used for making the substrate, according to the present invention, can be polyester, acrylic, or polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) fiber, and the general-grade fiber 3 can be aramid, polyester, cotton, or silk fiber.

Table 1 below shows the proportion ratio of the lower-melting fiber 4 and the general-grade fiber 3 used for making the substrate according to the present invention, in which the lower-melting fiber 4, according to the present invention, can be a polyester low melt, an acrylic low melt or a polyethylene naphthalate low melt fiber; and the general fiber 3 can be aramid, polyester, cotton, or silk fiber. The proportion ratio of the general-grade fiber and the lower-melting fiber is in the range of 95˜0%:5˜100%.

TABLE 1 Item Composition 1 2 3 Low Low Melt Polyester   5~100 Melt Fiber % Fiber Low Melt Acrylic Fiber %   5~100 Low Melt Polyesthlene   5~100 Naphthalate (PEN) Fiber % General Aramid Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0 Chem- Polyester Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0 ical Cotton Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0 Fiber Acrylic Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0 Silk Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0 Polyethylene 95~0 95~0 95~0 Naphthalate(PEN) Fiber % Other Chemical Fiber % 95~0 95~0 95~0

The substrate A made of the aforementioned yarn structure and fabric blend, can be used for fabricating a damper 7 of the speaker via the process shown in FIG. 4. The method of fabrication is as follows: first, prefabricated rolls of the substrate A are conveyed to a pre-heat device 5 via a conveyor for preheating the substrate, thereby softening the lower-melting fiber; then the substrate is molded via a compression molding device and is cut to a required shape for use as the damper 7 of the speaker. When the substrate A is compressed and heated during molding, due to the lower melting point of the lower-melting fiber than that of the general-grade fiber, the lower-melting fiber is to be melted first to seep into the gaps among the general-grade fibers, thereby making the overlapping area between the weft and the warp yarns 1, 2 bonding to one another. Therefore, no matter which direction the force is being applied towards, the substrate will not be deformed or damaged, and higher mechanical rigidity is thus achieved.

In addition, apart from the aforementioned fabric, the substrate, according to the present invention, can be further immersed into the liquid resin, so that the resin can be penetrated into the gaps between the fibers so to enhance the molding effectiveness of the substrate.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims. 

1. A speaker damper substrate, comprising: a plurality of yarns comprising a plurality of general-grade fibers and a plurality of lower-melting fibers wherein the melting point of the lower-melting fiber is lower than that of the general-grade fiber, and the proportion ratio of the general-grade fiber and the lower-melting fiber is in the range of 95˜0%:5˜100%, and the surrounding region of an overlapping area of the yarns are bonded using the lower-melting fibers due to their melting behavior.
 2. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises an immersed liquid resin.
 3. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower-melting fibers are encapsulating around the general-grade fibers.
 4. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower-melting fibers are blended with the general-grade fibers.
 5. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower-melting fiber is a polyester low melt fiber.
 6. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower-melting fiber is an acrylic low melt fiber.
 7. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower-melting fiber is a polyethylene naphthalate low melt fiber.
 8. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is an aramid fiber.
 9. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is a polyester fiber.
 10. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is a cotton fiber.
 11. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is a silk fiber.
 12. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is an acrylic fiber.
 13. The speaker damper substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the general-grade fiber is a polyethylene naphthalate fiber. 